The Garden.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 448, 22 February 1890, Page 3

The Garden.

(By HORTIS.I

Kitchen Garden. The late dry, hot weather will have been very trying to all growing crops. Where possible, use plenty of water, so that they may nob receive a check. Onions: As they ripen, pull from the ground, and dry thoroughly in the sun before storing past in their winter quarters. Celery: Continue watering freely, earthing up as the plants attain sufficient size. Plant out another few trenches for a late winter crop, and give plenty of water immediately after planting. In fact, the trenches used for the early crop can be utilised for the late crop, only give a fresh dose of manure before planting. Potatoes: All of, the late crop which is ripe should be lifted and stored past at once, for if vve receive heavy rains the tubers in the ground will be apt to start into a fresh growth, which will effectually destroy the quality of the crop. Melons should be kept comparatively dry now. Fruit which is swelling should be lifted off the ground. The best way to do this is to take a four or a five-inch pot, place this just alongside the melon, then place a piece of slate or shingle on the top of the pot, and the fruit on the top. This will have the effect of exposing more of the fruit’s surface to the action of the sun’s rays and greatly increasing its flavour. Cucumbers, pumpkins, piemelons, and marrows : Water freely, so as to keep up a vigorous growth, also pinch back superfluous shoots. Tomatoes: These are just beginning to give a good return for the labour that has been expended upon them. Continual attention must be given to the pinching back of superfluous shoots, leaving only those which will give the best return in fruit. Occasionally strip off a few of the large leaves, especially where they cover the fruit from the sun’s rays. The roots of the plants should be kept moderately moist. Where the soil has been heavily manured clean water is the best to use; where the soil is poor, liquid manure should be given liberally. Cabbages and cauliflowers: Earth up growing crops and water freely. Sow a small patch of seed of each in a cool, moist situation, and keep moist with water. These should give nice plants for mid-autumn planting. French and the running varieties of beans should receive special attention, as they form one of the staple vegetables for autumn. Keep them continually growing by giving them plenty of water, and pluck all pods as soon as ready. Lettuce: A small patch can always be kept in first-clasa condition for use at any small household if only a portion of the waste, water is used over the beds every day. Tie up advanced heads for blanching ; . prick out another small bed. Now is the best season of the year for digging, trenching and manuring vacant pieces of ground. Fresh manure from the stables direct can be used and placed about six inches under the surface. This new manure will heat and sweat naturally, and the soil will get the benefit of all the ammonia thrown off, instead of when placed in a heap being expended on the air. The surface should be left as rough as possible, so that a greater portion may be exposed to the action of the air and the sun’s rays. Vacant pieces of ground, if dealt with as above, will get thoroughly sweetened and pulverised, and, when wanted for an autumn crop, a slight forking will bring them into a splendid condition for either planting or sowing. Flower Garden. Unless where an abundant supply of water has been used throughout the season, many of the summer flowers will be quite or nearly past. All the debris of spent annuals should be cleared away to the rot heap as soon as they show signs of decay. Perennial and other stock border plants : Cut off all spent flower stalks, not allowing them to ripen seed, so that later flower bud 3 may have a better chance of developing. Tiger Lancifolium, and Belladonna liliums, etc., are now beginning to show their brightcoloured flowers. The soil above the bulbs should be liberally mulched and well watered, so as to assist the flowers in developing. See to the staking and tying up of the flower stalks, as the wind is apt to do sad havoc. Dahlias : Stake, tie, and give liberal supplies of liquid manure. Those which may be flowering, thin out blossoms, and cut off spent blooms. Chrysanthemums will now be making strong growth. Pinch out superfluous shoots and suckers, keep the soil fairly moist, and stake them when the wind begins to act upon them. Bedding plants, especially where they have been watered liberally, will now be making a grand display. Keep the water going, peg down and pinch back as they may require. Balsams, cockscombs, portulaca, Phlox drummondii, etc., are now in grand order. Use water as it may be required; never allow the plants to get a check. Now is the best period to make provision for next season. All the different plants being in flower, arrangements should be made for improving the general effect next year. Plants true to name or colour should be marked, with a view to the propagation of a good stock later in the season. Evergreen hedges can now be clipped for the last time this season. They will not now make much growth. All debris of cut grass and stocks or stems of plants which will rot easily should be placed in the rot heap; if possible fresh stable manure should be mixed up with them. A covering of soil should also be given, and all thoroughly drenched with water. This mixture will, during next winter, form a handsome addition to the manure for general crop. Greenhouse.

Continue giving plenty of air during the day. Repot such plants as may require it. Give plenty of water in the evening. When watering see that the soil in each pot is thoroughly saturated. Top-Dressing Lawns Now is the best period of the year to,ob* tain soils for top-dressing the lawns. In Auckland there are now a large number of lawns laid down for tennis courts. To make tennis a pleasant, safe, and agreeable game, the lawns should be kept in first-class condition. To do so they should be annually top-dressed with rich, good soil, so as to fill up all inequalities which the wear and tear of the season may have caused. This top dressing, if it is done with care, will not only do this, but with good materials, will also improve the quality of the grass as well. The first consideration should be the obtaining of good rich soil. Often the soils obtained for this purpose are almost worse than useless, being only subsoils, which, having very little plant food therein, on such it will perhaps take years for the gras3 to get a good hold. The soil for top-dressing should be taken from the surface of a grass paddock or the surface soil from a cultivated field. This should be placed in a heap to get sweetened. If the soil be taken from a paddock which has been under cultivation, it should be placed in the heap dry ; if taken from a grass 'paddock, it should be placed in a heap and thoroughly saturated with water so as to make the fibrous roots of the grass sweet, so that when applied to the ground in the autumn, it will break up easily, when the fibrous materials can be raked off and used for manure. Tbe proper time to top-dress should nob be later than May.